I owe everyone an apology for the unintentional hiatus. Both me and my beta reader were very busy; plus, the beta reading for this chapter took longer than I imagined. Fortunately, I was finally able to receive the final version today and now that it's here, I hope the long wait was worth it.
That said, please read and enjoy! :D
The Newcomer
An Amazing World of Gumball Story
By NeoNimbus
Chapter 69-The Triangle
The first day of Spring Break has arrived and for Mike, all he wanted to do was just peacefully doze off on his bed. Or at least, that was the plan until a loud explosion suddenly occurred, startling the maroon badger, as he leapt out of his bed as quickly as he could.
'What the flip was that just now?!' the maroon badger thought.
Mike ran to his window but didn't see anything. He then heard another boom which sounded like it came from down the street.
"Gumball..." an irked Mike muttered, before he quickly got dressed, before making his way out through the front door, as he headed out to the Watterson residence, intending to find out what his friends were up to.
Upon arriving at the Watterson residence, the maroon badger was surprised to find that everything was intact. Even so, Mike was very suspicious, still wondering where the explosion was, until it dawned on him that the only place for it would have to be the backyard.
"I wonder..." Mike began, before the maroon badger climbed over the fence and saw a makeshift game board, along with several cards and several dice lying around the ground. But around them, it looked like a battlefield with potholes and scorched grass. The shed was completely demolished as well. It was the last thing he expected to see.
"What the..." was all Mike could say at the sight.
"Gumball, looks like you messed up on this one." Darwin called out to his brother, as the two emerged from the shed.
"Darn it! I thought for sure I got it right." Gumball cursed in disappointment, before the two noticed Mike in front of them.
"Hi Mike!"
"Are you two at war?" Mike asked calmly, despite being in shock.
"Oh, you mean this?" Darwin asked the obvious, prompting Gumball to chuckle, before answering the maroon badger's question.
"Don't be silly, Mike. Of course we're not at war. In fact, we were playing..."
Before Mike knew what happened next, the blue feline grabbed two dice, before he and the two-legged fish declared out loud...
"Dodge or Dare!"
"NO!" Mike shouted, before he grabbed the dice from Gumball's paw and threw them on the roof. "No more Dodge or Dare!"
"Hey, what was that for?!" Gumball shouted at his friend.
"Yeah, we were just having fun." Darwin whined.
"Look around you! Your entire backyard has been destroyed!" Mike shouted as the duo finally took a good look around.
"Alright, so we might have gotten carried away." Gumball sheepishly admitted.
"C-Carried away? I'm surprised half the neighborhood isn't looking for you two!"
"I guess they got used to it." Darwin concluded.
Just then, Brian, along with Rhonda and Alison, showed up at the Watterson residence, as the trio made their way to the backyard, all shocked by what they were looking at right now.
"Guys, what's going on around here?"
"Gumball and Darwin apparently invented a game that wipes out any and all matter in the surrounding area." Mike said as he walked over to Brian.
"Wait, are you telling me they did this?" the purple fox asked his friend, pointing to the damage in the backyard.
"Yeah!" Mike replied, as he face palmed. "But really, are you that surprised?"
"I know these two would cause some mayhem, but nothing like this." Brian insisted.
"Well we can't play anymore, as Mike threw the dice on the roof." said Gumball. Everyone else except Darwin sighed with relief.
"Maybe it's for the best." Rhonda informed her friends.
"Yeah, I think we should do something else for a change." Alison added.
"Preferably without the mass chaos." Brian said rubbing his head.
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
It was then that an idea came to Rhonda.
"How about we introduce Alison to some of our friends?"
"Why not? Right guys?" Brian asked his cohorts.
Mike, along with a reluctant Gumball and Darwin, nodded their heads in agreement to this.
"Then let us be off!" Brian said triumphantly.
With that said the six left the backyard and made their way to the only place they could think of.
It was just another day at the Fitzgerald residence, as Penny was having her usual conversations with her friends. Since this was the first day of Spring Break, they have been discussing with each other on what to do for the week and so far, none of them had a plan at the moment. It was at this moment that a certain blue feline spoke out of the blue.
"Hey Penny!' he greeted her with a love-struck voice, before a certain maroon badger responded with a bopping on the head."Ow."
Curious by this, Penny, along with her friends, turned around and saw Gumball, Darwin, Brian, Mike, Rhonda and a green gerbil she didn't recall seeing before.
"Hi guys! Who's your friend?" Penny asked.
"I'm glad you asked." Rhonda happily replied. "Penny, this is Alison, my cousin. Alison, this is Penny."
"It's nice to meet you." Alison happily replied, as she shook Penny's hand.
"And this is everyone else." Mike said comically.
"Hey!" All of them said causing Mike to snicker.
Likewise, Alison snickered along with Mike, something that Carrie noticed right away. The ghost was about to open her mouth, but restrained herself at the last minute. The last thing she wanted to do was to be rude in front of everyone.
Eventually, Mike calmed himself down enough to introduce Penny's friends to Alison for real.
"Seriously though, this is Carrie, Masami, Molly, Carmen, Teri and Leslie."
"Hello."
"Hi!"
"Nice to meet you."
"Salutations."
"H-hi."
"Greetings."
"Nice to meet every one of you." Alison accepted their greetings.
"And so you know despite how Leslie sounds, he is indeed a guy."
"Hey!" Leslie stated out loud.
"I speak only the truth!" Mike countered.
"You forgot to mention that he's Penny's cousin." Darwin added.
"But they don't even look alike." Alison pointed out.
"Spend another week in Elmore, Alison," Brian suggested. "That will be the least of your worries."
"Believe me; you'll get used to it." Gumball advised the astonished green gerbil.
"They always do." Mike mumbled.
"Thanks, I'll take that into consideration." said Alison.
"Anytime Alison." Mike happily replied, as Carrie looked on, suspicious by the maroon badger's friendly conversation with the green gerbil.
'What's going on between those two?' the ghost wondered, before Penny began to talk.
"So Alison, tell us about you."
The gerbil hesitated for a moment, uncertain how to respond to the antlered peanut's words. A part of her was worried that Penny and her friends would be turned off by her personality, due to her unpredictable nature. On the other hand, however, she didn't want to lie to them either. This unfortunately puts her in a perilous position.
'What do I do now?' Alison thought, before she felt her nose twitching, much to her dismay. 'Oh no, not now!'
"Alison, are you alright?" asked Penny.
The green gerbil didn't respond right away, as she was preventing herself from sneezing. Despite her best effort, she eventually sneezed, becoming Ally in the process, much to the dismay of Brian and his friends.
"You all may want to take about seven steps back." Mike said calmly.
"Why's that?" Masami asked the maroon badger.
"Who the hay are all of you?!" Ally shouted.
"That's why." Mike replied, as he rubbed his eyes in annoyance.
Everyone was taken aback by the gerbil's reaction. It was the last thing they were ever expecting and it only left them rather confused.
"What are you talking about, Alison?" asked Leslie. "We've already introduced ourselves to you."
"First off, my name is Ally." the green gerbil corrected the flower. "And second, give me one good reason why I shouldn't-"
Suddenly, Mike got in front of Leslie, shielding the flower from the gerbil's possible wrath, as Ally stopped dead in her tracks, surprised to see the maroon badger. After several seconds, she calmed down long enough to realize that she had relapsed back into her aggressive behavior.
"Oh, hi Mike." Ally gave a casual response, before rubbing her head. "Sorry about that. Force of habit, I guess."
"How do your parents let you out of the house?" Mike asked as he doubted they would want anyone to know about her condition.
"They can be rather absent-minded." Ally sheepishly replied.
"Wow Ally..." said a surprised Rhonda."I would've sworn you would've punched Mike for that."
"Well, I have been controlling my temper lately." Ally responded to her cousin's last statement, shrugging her shoulders like it was nothing.
"Well as long as Mike doesn't need to tie you to a fence we should be fine." Brian reasoned.
"Don't worry too much about that, fur ball. I'm doing quite well." the gerbil assured the purple fox.
"Would any of you mind filling us in?!" Carmen shouted, having lost her patience in the wave of confusion.
"Carmen's right. You guys seem to know more about this." Molly noted.
In response, Brian took a deep breath, before giving them an explanation about the situation.
"You see, it began not so long ago..."
Several minutes later...
"...And that's how it happened."
Once Brian was done telling his story, Penny, along with her friends were left speechless and amazed by this.
"Want to know the most amazing thing? This is all completely true." Gumball said after a moment of silence.
"Well, that would explain why Alison, I mean Ally, didn't recognize us." Penny noted.
"Well she knows you now so you should all be fine." Darwin stated.
"Are you sure about that?" Teri asked with uncertainty.
"Anyone who's friends with us is friends of Ally's!" Rhonda replied.
The mouse's answer was enough to calm Teri and most of her friends down, but Carrie, on the other hand, remained rather suspicious of Ally. From what she had witnessed, it appeared that Mike had a much better understanding about her, more than she has in the past few months.
'Is she planning to make her first move before I do?' the ghost thought, feeling a bit jealous at the same time.
Realizing what she was feeling right now, Carrie immediately shook her head; the last thing she wanted to do was summon Jealousy by accident and that was the last thing she wanted to do.
"Alright Carrie, just calm yourself down. Don't jump to any conclusions." Carrie quietly said to herself.
"Carrie did you say something?" Molly asked.
"No, no I didn't Molly." the ghost quickly replied, smiling as wide as she could.
"Alright then." said Molly, uncertain whether she should be weirded out by the ghost's quick response or not.
"Now that everything's been settled, what do you guys want to do for today?" asked Penny.
Brian, along with his friends, pondered for a moment, trying to come up with a plan.
After debating for a few minutes, everyone eventually agreed to go to the movies, wanting to check out what was released last week; after everyone got their tickets, they all went to the assigned theater, with Gumball and Penny sitting next to each other and Brian and Rhonda doing the same thing, while everyone else simply scattered. Mike himself found sitting between Carrie and Ally, much to his discomfort.
'Well...this is getting awkward.' Mike thought to himself.
As everyone was settling down in their seat, Carrie looked at Ally with a worried look, while Ally was simply trying to enjoy herself.
'I've got to make the first move before Ally.' Carrie thought to herself, but realized she was too shy to try anything.
"Carrie, what's wrong?" Mike asked with concern, snapping the ghost back to reality as she nervously looked back at the badger.
"N-nothing." Carrie replied before looking away.
'That was weird.' Mike thought, before turning his attention to Ally. "So, do you want something to eat?"
Before Ally could say anything, Carrie suddenly spoke out of the blue, surprising both the gerbil and the badger.
"You know, I can get some refreshments! Don't worry, I have enough money to get some." she declared, before teleporting out of their sights.
Both Ally and Mike were weirded out by Carrie's unusual behavior, as she never behaved like that before. The gerbil, out of curiosity, decided to talk to the badger about this.
"Mike, does she always behave like that?"
"Other than possessing people to go on a crazy junk food spree, no."
True to her words, Carrie teleported to the concession stand as quickly as she could, but as she made her way to the line, she immediately became quite agitated, grumbling under her breath.
"Stupid Mike..." the ghost mumbled under her breath."Why did he act like that to Ally all of a sudden? What about me?"
As much as she wanted to dwell on this, though, Carrie calmed herself down, realizing that what she's doing just now wasn't good at all.
"But I can't stay mad at him...he was probably just being nice like he was to me."
Carrie decided to put her feelings aside for the moment and just focus on getting some snacks right now, only for a certain maroon badger to make his presence known.
"Hey Carrie." She turned around to see Mike walking up next to her.
"Oh...hey there Mike." Carrie bashfully greeted the badger. "I said I was getting the refreshments."
"And I came to help. You're getting stuff for three people; I should at least help."
"Sure, no problem. Be my guest." Carrie said to the maroon badger.
"Not in a good mood?" Mike asked, concerned.
"Of course I am. I was just surprised you showed up, that's all." the ghost adamantly insisted.
"Well with an exit like yours, I had to see what was up." Mike pointed out.
"Anyway, let's go get something to eat." Carrie suggested.
"Go where? We're already at the concession stand." Mike pointed out.
"Oh yeah, that's right. My bad." Carrie then nervously chuckled, before rubbing her head sheepishly.
Mike looked at Carrie, dumbfounded by the ghost's strange behavior.
'Alright, this is starting to get a bit weird now.' the badger thought, before quickly shaking his head dismissively. 'Wait, this is Elmore. Everyone in this town is weird.'
Mike then shrugged his shoulders and simply helped the ghost out to get some food.
After paying the cashier, both Mike and Carrie made their way back to the auditorium and much to their relief, the ads were still playing, so they got back to their seats with their refreshments.
"Thanks for the help, Mike. I really appreciate it." Carrie said to the badger.
"You're welcome." Mike plainly said, before handing Ally a drink and small popcorn.
"Thank you Mike." Ally thanked her friend, as Carrie looked on in dismay.
"Um Mike?"
Mike looked to Carrie.
"Do you think I could...?"
She gestured to the popcorn and soda. Mike willingly obliged much to Carrie's delight.
"Now remember Carrie, savor the meal and just enjoy it." Mike reminded the ghost.
"Don't worry, Mike. I learned how to control it." Carrie assured the maroon badger.
Mike was happy to hear this, as he allowed the ghost to go inside his body. Before Ally knew what happened next, Mike's body was under Carrie's control, happily enjoying some popcorn and soda.
"What the-Mike?!" Ally asked.
Carrie stopped what she was doing and turned her attention to Ally, who looked at the now white badger in astonishment.
"Sorry about that, Ally. Mike is just allowing me to use his body so I can eat and drink."
'Wow! I didn't expect something like that to happen." Ally thought, still speechless of what she had witnessed, before another question came to mind. "So where's Mike?"
"He's in here with me." Carrie said as she continued to munch on popcorn.
"And he doesn't mind if you're using his body?"
"Nope. Not at all." Carrie said matter-of-factually, before she resumed eating her meal.
While Carrie continued to enjoy herself, Ally felt a strange sensation, one that she is not familiar with.
'Why do I feel funny all of a sudden?' Ally thought to herself, unable to understand this strange reaction. The gerbil tried to quell this newfound feeling as best as she could, but it still kept nagging her, no matter what.
"Maybe it was just a minor headache." Ally quietly said to herself, before looking down at the ground in disappointment. 'But why does my heart hurt?'
Just then, the movie was finally starting, as everyone in the theater suddenly became quiet. But when the movie began to play, it immediately displayed the title "My Aching Heart", much to the gerbil's chagrin.
'Why do you have to be so cruel, fate?!' Ally angrily thought, before she turned around and saw Carrie, as she was starting to enjoy herself, happily eating another batch of popcorn.
'Seriously, you're going to be inside of him all day?' Ally thought, as she frowned in annoyance.
Two hours later...
After "My Aching Heart" ended, everyone exited the movie theater, with some satisfied by what they watched, while others were less than impressed by it. Some enjoyed the comedic aspect, as well as the ending, but their primary criticism was the cliché plots and characters that were in it. Otherwise, the film was rather enjoyable.
After Carrie had finished eating the last batch of popcorn, she left Mike's body, much to her regret.
'It was fun while it lasted.'
Mike, for his part, stretched his body out, before turning his attention to Carrie.
"So, how was the movie?"
"But I thought you could see when you were possessed." Carrie pointed out; somewhat surprised that Mike didn't watch the entire film.
"I could but it was boring and I fell asleep."
Carrie couldn't help but chuckle at Mike's remark, while Ally looked on with annoyance.
"So what's next on the to-do list, Captain Brian?" Mike asked the purple fox.
Brian pondered hard for a moment, but before he could say anything, Ally suddenly cut him off, much to his surprise.
"How about we hang out at the mall?"
Everyone, including Mike, nodded their heads in agreement and decided to make it their next destination, while Ally was excited that the maroon badger agreed with her suggestion, though Carrie noticed this reaction, much to her suspicion.
'What are you up to?' Carrie thought.
The mall was packed far more than usual as a result of Spring Break, but nevertheless, everyone decided to go with the flow, wanting to just relax for the moment, in spite of the large crowds that have showed up today.
"Alright, so what should we do while we are here?" Gumball asked his friends, before his brother quickly spoke up.
"Arcade!" Darwin shouted, as he and Gumball ran off.
"I'll be at the comic book store." Brian informed his friends, before running to his destination.
"I'm off to the sports shop." said Rhonda, before dashing off.
"Mike, where are you going to be?" asked Penny.
"I'm gonna go to the arcade and make sure that Gumball and Darwin don't end up destroying the place." Mike said, feeling like a babysitter.
"Don't worry Mike, let me come with you." Ally suggested.
"You know what, I'll come too." said Carrie.
"Thanks girls." said Mike as he continued walking.
As the trio headed off to the arcade, Penny and her friends looked on, curious about the girls' behavior.
"What was that about?" asked Leslie.
"I don't know, but let's give them some space." Carmen insisted.
"In the meantime, let's do some shopping." Masami suggested.
Everyone agreed with the cloud's statement, before they headed off to begin shopping.
Mike was surprised by what had occurred just now; the last thing he ever expected was to get some help and for once, he welcomed it. With Carrie and Ally at his side, it made things a lot easier for him to handle Gumball and Darwin's destructive nature. Right now, though, the trio was running as fast as they could, hoping the inevitable doesn't occur.
'I hope we're not too late!' Mike thought, as he and the girls arrived at the arcade and much to their relief, it was relatively intact, as Gumball was playing a game of 'Whack-A-Mole' and Darwin was enjoying a space shooting game, though the former was doing poorly, while the latter had more luck.
"Thank goodness this place hasn't blown to bits." Mike commented.
"Now that we're here, I want to check this game out." said Ally, as she grabbed Mike's arm to drag him off.
"Wait a minute; I think there's a game I want to try out." Carrie suddenly spoke, before grabbing Mike's other arm and try to drag him off in her direction.
Before the maroon badger knew what happened next, he found himself in the middle of a vicious tug-of-war game, except that he's the one being pulled.
"Dah! Uh...Ah!" Mike grunted, as the two tried pulling Mike's arms off.
"Can we discuss this in a civilized manner?" asked Mike.
"NO!" both Carrie and Ally shouted, before both girls resumed pulling Mike apart.
Mike attempted to free himself from the girls' grasp, but much to his surprise, they were very strong, as their grip on his arms tightened.
'At this rate, I'm going to be split apart...literally!'
Unable to bear the pain any longer, the maroon badger took a deep breath and mustered all of his strength to free his arms from their grips, but ended up losing his balance, as Mike hopped on one leg before slamming his head on one of the arcade machine's metal frames, much to the girls' shock, before Carrie and Ally quickly came to his aid with a look of concern on their faces.
"Mike, are you alright?" the gerbil asked the badger, as he rubbed the lump on his head.
"No thanks to you two! You just tried to rip my arms off!"
"Wait, we can explain..." Carrie tried to reason with an irate Mike.
"No! When people start ripping arms out of their sockets that's when I call it!"
"But Mike..." was all Ally could say, before the maroon badger cut her off.
"Both of you just leave me alone!" Mike then angrily walked away from the girls, as Ally and Carrie looked down on the ground, feeling guilty about what they have done.
Today was turning out to be a frustrating one for Mike. He couldn't believe that Carrie and Ally would do something like that. They were clearly way out of character and he couldn't understand why they behaved like that.
'What has gotten into those two?! They acted like a bunch of savages all of a sudden!'
As Mike still tried to figure out what had caused both Ally and Carrie to behave in such a manner, the maroon badger failed to noticed a certain purple fox heading towards him, as they bumped into one another, causing Mike to fall on his back, before Brian helped him up on his feet.
"Hey Mike, are you all...Whoa! What happened to you?" asked Brian, noticing a lump on Mike's head, as well as his messed up clothes.
"Carrie and Ally have lost it or something! They just tried to rip my arms off over what game they wanted to play!"
"Did you say Carrie and Ally just now?" asked a surprised Brian.
"Yeah why?" Mike was confused by this. He didn't know what the purple fox was getting at.
Before he knew it, a sly smile formed on Brian's face.
"Looks to me like you were in the middle of a love triangle."
For a moment, there was a long, awkward silence, as neither Brian nor Mike said anything. Finally, the maroon badger spoke, clearly shocked what he just heard just now.
"...What?!"
"Think about it Mike..." the purple fox began."Both Carrie and Ally wanted to spend time with you and as far as they were concerned, you were the main prize and they were competing for your affection."
Mike continued to listen on with disbelief, his mouth was ajar and his eyes widened in surprise. But slowly but surely, what Brian just said started to make sense: it was so obvious to him now, yet it took him much longer to realize that.
'I can't believe I didn't notice it sooner.' the maroon badger, before quickly shaking his head. "But I don't want to date anyone. I'm only twelve!"
"What's wrong with dates?" asked a confused Brian.
"There's nothing wrong with dating. I just think I'm too young to really appreciate it." Mike replied.
"Then let Carrie and Ally know that you're not ready for dates."
"I don't want to hurt them."
"Would you rather have them play another game of tug-of-Mike?" Brian reminded his friend, causing Mike to cringe, as his shoulders began to hurt again.
"Look, just set the record straight and tell them how you'll feel. I'm sure they'll understand your reasons." Brian informed his friend.
"But do I want to take that chance?"
"Do you have any other bright ideas then?" Brian asked the maroon badger.
"Eh...No." Mike uttered in defeat.
"So it's settled: you'll just have to tell Carrie and Ally that you don't feel like dating and that you just want to be friends with them." said Brian, before he shoved Mike back into the arcade.
"No wait-ah!"
"No way out of this one, Mike." Brian bluntly informed the badger, before he resumed shoving him once more.
"...Fine." Mike caved.
"That's all I wanted to hear." said Brian, just as he and his friend arrived at the arcade's entrance.
"I hate you." Mike said to the purple fox, as he looked back and began to walk towards Carrie and Ally, who look like they just got done with an argument.
"Am I interrupting anything?" Mike asked the girls, prompting the two to turn their attention to the badger, much to their surprise.
"Mike...I thought you wanted to be left alone." Carrie nervously said.
"Yeah, we didn't expect to see you this soon." Ally added.
The maroon badger nodded his head, before turning to the Watterson brothers, who were playing another round of their chosen games.
"Gumball, Darwin; Please leave."
The Watterson brothers looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders, before they exited the arcade, leaving just Mike, Carrie and Ally on their own in the arcade.
"Okay, where to begin?"
As the maroon badger pondered on what to do next, Ally and Carrie looked at one another, neither knowing what the maroon badger had in mind.
'Please let this be good.' both Carrie and Ally thought simultaneously.
Mike continued to ponder for what felt like forever, before he took a deep breath and turned his attention to the girls.
"Carrie, Ally; can you tell me why you two behaved like that just minutes ago?"
Both of the girls looked at each other then back at Mike, unsure of what to say, before Mike spoke once more.
"Look, I get it that you two like me, but what you did back there was overkill. I'm just lucky I still have my arms intact."
Both of the girls felt ashamed, realizing what they have done was very selfish. They never wanted to upset Mike nor did they want to lose their friendship with him.
"Mike, we're so sorry for what we did to you." Carrie apologized.
"We didn't mean to put you in harm's way." Ally added.
Mike noticed the look of guilt and remorse on their faces, making it clear that they took full responsibility for their actions.
"Apology accepted, but promise me that you two don't pull a stunt like that ever again."
Both Ally and Carrie smiled, glad that the maroon badger forgave them for their actions.
"Anyway, we have still had another hour before we leave the mall. What do you two want to do until then?"
Ally and Carrie looked at each other, uncertain what to say to Mike, before they both turned their gaze on him.
"Wherever you go, we go." Ally replied.
"But just as friends." Carrie added.
Mike, for his part, couldn't help but smile, happy that the two are starting to get along with each other.
Next time on The Newcomer
Chapter 70-The Wolf
When Brian discovers that he has a grandfather from his dad's side of the family, the purple fox decided to invite him into his house. But he soon discovers that neither his dad nor his grandfather gets along with each other at all.
Tidbits
-Regarding Mike's love interest, it's up to you readers to decide who Mike should be with.
-I wanted to thank Sal for his help on this chapter.
I hope everyone enjoyed The Triangle and I'll see ya next chapter!